It is understood that the initial paperwork was submitted before the 23:00 BST deadline on Monday. This contained the outline of the deal, the signature of the player and both clubs.

That gave all parties an hour to complete the deal. But Madrid backed away when their attempt to recruit a replacement left back, Guilherme Siqueira from Granada, fell through because he instead joined Benfica.

Coentrao, who has 37 caps for Portugal, joined Madrid from Benfica for a reported £25m in 2011.

BBC links

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